Abstract
A detailed investigation on length-weight relationship of four sea cucumber species, Holothuria spinifera, Bohadschia marmorata, Stichopus naso, and Holothuria atra found in the commercial catches of North-East coastal waters of Sri Lanka was conducted from May 2014 to September 2016. Minimum length and weight were recorded in S. naso while maximum size was recorded by B. marmorata. Length-weight relationship was carried out to investigate the correlation coefficient (r), exponent “b” value and condition factor (K). Calculated length-weight relationships obtained for H. spinifera, B. marmorata, S. naso and H. atra were W = -1.824 L1.887, W = 0.080 L1.108, W = 0.012 L1.021, and W = -0.110 L1.234, respectively. Correlation coefficient for length-weight relationship ranged from 0.696 to 0.774 and was significant at P<0.01 indicating good correlation between length and weight. The “b” values of H. spinifera (1.887), B. marmorata (1.108), S. naso (1.021) and H. atra (1.223) were significantly different (P<0.05) from the hypothetical value of 3, showing a negative allometric growth pattern. The mean condition factor (K) was greater than 1; H. spinifera (3.89±1.03), B. marmorata (4.12±2.21), S. naso (3.558±1.73) and H. atra (2.688±1.34) indicating the good nutritional condition in all four sea cucumbers species.
Highlights
There are 75 known species of sea-cucumbers found in inter-tidal areas of Sri Lanka (Clark and Rowe, 1971)
Size distribution of sea-cucumbers in term of length and weight in North-east coastal waters of Sri Lanka indicated that S. naso has the minimum length and weight, while B. marmorata exhibited the maximum size (Table 1)
Length and weight ranges of B. marmorata and H. atra in North-east region reported were found to be lower than the respective values of both species found in North-west coastal region of Sri Lanka as reported by (Dissanayaka and Wijeyaratne, 2007) indicating that overall conditions in North-west are better than that in North-east region
Summary
There are 75 known species of sea-cucumbers found in inter-tidal areas of Sri Lanka (Clark and Rowe, 1971). Most of the sea-cucumber catch comes from North, East and North-west regions of Sri Lanka. At present around 25 sea-cucumber species have been identified, while 21 species are considered as commercially important (Dissanayake & Stefanson, 2010). Seven species of sea-cucumbers belonging to two families have been recorded from Point Pedro and Mullaitivu coastal waters in North-east region of Sri Lanka (Veronika et al, 2016; Veronika et al, 2017). Holothuria atra (Jaeger, 1833), Bohadschia marmorata (Jaeger, 1833), Stichopus naso (Samper, 1868) and Holothuria spinifera (Theel, 1886) have a higher demand than other species.
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